Sunday Koffee Klatch~

If you've never joined our daily Koffee Klatch then today is the perfect day to give it a try. This is a topic, question for game each day just for the pleasure of having some fun and maybe a laugh or two. The only rules are that we never use the 'P' (p a i n ...ssshhhh) word in our Koffee Klatch. So whether you are new to the forum or a long timer, please do join us today for some memory time.

Do you remember your grandmother’s cooking? Or maybe you went to visit an aunt who's cooking was memorable. But whoever it was in your life that left you with wonderful memories of delicious meals and fun, let's share about them. What was this person' specialty? What do you remember having when you visited?

My memories of my grandma on dads' side are very wonderful ones. She was widowed when I was very young so once I was over 10 I was allowed to stay with her for a week or more during the summer. She lived about 300 miles away in northern Idaho but some family member was often going that way and I would hitch a ride, or mom and dad would take me over. Grandma cooked very simple meals but one thing I do remember is when I arrived she always had fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls waiting. She must have made the the day before but she kept them in a small glass front china cabinet in her tiny house and that was the first thing I noticed...after hugging grandma...lol There was always a fancy plate in the china cabinet that help those delicious cinnamon rolls and they were like eating a piece of heaven. I don't remember so much about their exact flavor but rather that she had made them for the two of us. That's better than any flavor.

What special thing did your grandma or aunt or some special person in your past make that you remember fondly?

ChutzGravitation is not responsible for people falling in love. Albert Einstein

My Grandma on my moms side of the family was a fantastic cook and for many many years while I was young she did all her cooking on a wood burning stove, they had a big pot belly stove in the living room that my grandpa use to put coal in to heat the house! Anyway my every time I used to go to my grandparents house, my grandma would whisper into my ear that she made me my favorite cookie and then she would take me into the kitchen and get the cookie jar down and it would be filled with fresh Pineapple Drop cookies! They were thick soft cookies with pineapple in them! They were GREAT!

My Grandmother on my Mom's side was a great cook. She also made taffy and all sorts of goodies! My favorite thing she cooked was "Bear Soup" or as everyone else knows it, Macaroni and Tomato's! In order to get us to eat it she told us it was what the 3 bears in Goldilocks had!! So, one day when I was in the 7th grade I went to the lunchroom and asked for Bear Soup. You can imagine how embarrassed I was when the "lunch ladies" had no idea what Bear Soup was! No matter, it was yummy.Catz4I'm called Cat, but as there are few other Cat's on here, I put the number of cats I have and combined it to spell out Catz4

My Grandmother on my Moms side was actually a very well known cook. She was Hungarian landed in NY in 1929 with the crowd of immigrants. She worked many many years for Ratners Deli in NY. It was always the family joke about a hungarian cooking Jewish style....they loved her and her food. When she came to visit she would arrive by train in Trenton, NJ with shopping bags full of Fresh meat (that she would grind) and supplies. She would come to our house and never stop cooking until it was time to go back. This is how my weight problem began

She would make: Stuffed Cabbage, Struedel, poppyseed and walnut paste cookies, homemade noodles and soup, Fried cabbage/homemade noodles with cottage cheese just to name a very few.

A funny story: I moved to CA in 1980 and got a craving for her cookies, called her and asked if she would send me some from NY....she did BUT her handwriting was difficult to read and I did not get them for a month. When I opened the box they were broken up and stale BUT did I care NOPE ate em and loved em just the same. She died that same year and when I think of those cookies I still chuckle

Oh, I sure do remember my Gramma's cooking! My Gramma was from a Russian/Ukrainian background, so when we went to visit her, there was always borscht, cabbage rolls, and other wonderful food in her kitchen.

Gramma had an old fashioned cookstore, with an oven and 4 burners on one side, and two burners and an oven on the right side that were heated by firewood. She always had a cord or two of wood stacked up to feed the woodstove...and wow, did she ever make amazing breads and cakes and pies and cookies!!!

The funny thing I remember is that my Gramma lived in Powell River - a town up the West Coast of BC that had a huge pulp mill as it's main employer. My aunt and uncle lived there also, and they had a cabin up there on Powell Lake. We did a lot of fishing and stuff, so when it was time for us to go home, Gramma would give us all these milk cartons - she would load them up with cookies or berries and other stuff, and often, the fish we had caught on the lake. She would freeze all these things, so they would be fresh when we got home (an all day trip, including 2 ferry boats).

Gramma passed away several years ago, but every time I see a milk carton, I think of her!

I "lived" with both sets of grandparents on and off when I was young. (My mom was very ill- she had a kidney transplant when I was 6 years old- so my dad would take us to one set of grandparents or the other when I was little because Mom needed caring for as much as I did. When my dad would work nights, he would take us over on Monday afternoon, and we stay all week- he'd come for breakfast or lunch every day, though.) Both of grandmothers had "specialties". Gma J's chicken and dumplings, beef stew, and pasties were amazing. So were her cookies. Gma K was an awesome cook, too- pickles, chicken soup, potato soup (I use a variation of that recipe still) and ketchup (yes! Ketchup!). Also, when my mom could, she was an amazing cook as well. In fact, she owned a catering company for a while with her mom, and then she was the cook for our parish priest (until the bishop "stole" her to work for him).

Funny thing, though... I left for college barely knowing how to boil water. I could stuff mushrooms for a party or roll egg rolls, but I didn't really know many of the basics. Somehow, however, I absorbed many of their tricks and secrets, and I taught myself everything else in short order. Hubby said my spaghetti sauce was one of the reasons he married me.DDD (4 levels- L2-3 thru L5-S1)

My grandma on my mom's side was a wonderful cook. My favorite thing that she used to cook was her chicken and dumplings. Ooo they were so good. We would always get together at her house for all the holidays. It was so much fun. She passed away a few years ago, and I miss her so much. We were very close when my husband and I lived down there in Tennessee where my family lives. We moved to Washington State and now we live in New York. I have a lot of great memories.

It's so funny....none of my relatives have ever been great cooks! I don't have any "hand-me-down" recipes from my own grandmother or even my mother....in fact, I was appointed the official cook in my house when I was ten because my mom worked full-time, so I had to cook dinner and have it ready by 5:00pm for my dad and the younger kids because my mom wouldn't get home until after 6 most days. I made simple meals by opening lots of boxes and cans at first, but I found I enjoyed cooking, and taught myself how to make homemade bread and biscuits and pies. I learned a lot on my own, and became quite a good baker by the time I was in my teens.

But the first time I was exposed to really good home cooking was when I moved out of my mom's house and into a place I shared with several other young people; one of the girls, Kathy, was a fantastic cook and she taught me how to roast a turkey, make wonderful gravies, soups, all about herbs and spices....just everything! She also taught me how to cook a meal for large numbers of people...how to organize and make a meal for twenty or thirty people, because sometimes we had that many for dinner. I think that her apple pie is what I remember the best....just the perfect American apple pie, decorated with pastry leaves on top!

nasalady, funny you should mention "hand-me-down" recipes. My cousins and I are trying to put together a cookbook of recipes from our family. It's a little more time-consuming than I had planned.DDD (4 levels- L2-3 thru L5-S1)

BethW said...nasalady, funny you should mention "hand-me-down" recipes. My cousins and I are trying to put together a cookbook of recipes from our family. It's a little more time-consuming than I had planned.

What a great idea, Beth! You know, I read something in a magazine recently (probably in a doctor's office waiting room, LOL!) about a mom and grandmother putting together a cookbook of her own recipes as a gift to her children and grandchildren....such a great legacy to leave to your family! It's a very practical part of your family history! Lyme Disease, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, AIH, Hashimoto's, lupus, fibro, RA, celiac disease, asthma, psoriasis, Raynaud's, hypertension, osteopenia, sleep apnea, RLS, GERD, DDD, L3-4 and L4-5 radiculopathy -> severe lower back pain, cubital tunnel, tarsal tunnel,Doxycycline, Zithromax, Prednisone, Imuran, Plaquenil, Lyrica, Cymbalta, Levothyroxine, Atenolol, Cozaar, Zyrtec, Fosamax, Albuterol, Prilosec, CPAP

Oh her home smelled sooooo goood! Was always a mixure of something sugary and sweet, with thick aromas of supper!

Did I ever tell you that I am allergic to bananas?.... Oh Granny made the best banana nut bread! I would steal some and run and hide under the flower bushes in her front yard! OOooH! It was so good! I would get terrible rashes. At one point she cut down the flower bush thinking it was casuing me to get the hives and rashes. My granpapa knew what was up thou! And soon the cat was out of the bag!

...so grandpa said only a small pich when no one was lookin!

Oh I miss them so much but I know they are with me always in my heart. It fills me with joy when I hear," Your house always smells like something good to eat." or "Can I stay for supper?"

..its the good stuff that memorys of made of I think!

*hugg*

dani

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,And sorry I could not travel bothAnd be one traveler, long I stood